Caritas President: We Can Transform Society

Urges Aid Agencies to Be Expressions of God

April 08, 2009
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ROME, APRIL 8, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Thanks to Jesus' resurrection, volunteers can transform society into "something better," says the president of Caritas Internationalis.

Cardinal Óscar Rodríguez Maradiaga, the archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, said this in an Easter message to the global federation of aid organizations of the Catholic Church.

He told the aid organization that they should be "an expression and a sacrament of the redeeming love of God for the whole of humanity."

"I saw in a recent report" that "donations from some of our Caritas organizations have increased, instead of diminishing during the world economic crisis," explained the archbishop. "This is a sign that the risen Christ can engender more love than hatred in the world, more concern for one's needy neighbor than egoism and avarice."

"We must firmly believe that we can transform our society into something better. A better place to live in, a better place to work in and a better place to praise God," the cardinal continued.

The cardinal appealed to all Caritas collaborators to keep close to their heart "the victims of the earthquake in L'Aquila, Italy. May their suffering be transformed into the joy of the resurrected Lord."

The president of Caritas concluded: "My prayer for the Caritas community around the world is that we be an expression and a sacrament of the redeeming love of God for the whole of humanity."